Written by Tío Esqueleto
Writer, director, producer, and special effects artist Bert I. Gordon got his start in the early, black and white days of American International Pictures. Helming such 1950s B-classics as Earth vs. The Spider and Attack Of The Puppet People, Gordon’s (“Mr. Big” as he became known) best known early works for A.I.P. were his Colossal Man pictures, The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), and War of the Colossal Beast (1958).
In 1976, after 20 years of other projects for other people, Gordon returned to A.I.P., in color (yellow credits and all!) with The Food of the Gods, the first of two H.G. Wells adaptations (Empire Of The Ants would come out a year later) that would go on to be drive-in/late night TV staples. The Food of the Gods is a nature-gone-amuck tale where, once again, man’s meddling with nature has swung around to bite him in the ass, this time, with teeth, tails, beaks, and stingers.
On a remote island in Canada, Morgan (Marjoe Gortner), a football player, along with his agent, Brian (Jon Cypher), and his teammate, Davis, go hunting on horseback. Davis ends up ahead of the pack where he is ambushed by giant, two-foot wasps. When they finally catch up to him, Davis is dead, stung to death, his face swollen and unrecognizable.
Morgan rides on for help, where he happens upon the remote farmhouse of a religious fanatic named Mrs. Skinner (Ida Lupino). While snooping in the barn, Morgan finds himself in a bloody battle with a menacing, eight-foot rooster that he eventually brings down with a pitchfork. A bewildered Morgan learns that Mrs. Skinner has been feeding her chickens a watery, oatmeal-like goo she found oozing from a hill in the yard. She declares it a gift from the Lord, an “answer to our prayers,” a means to get rich. Think Beverly Hillbillies meets The Twilight Zone. She collects it in mason jars, and has affectionately labeled it F.O.T.G. Morgan warns her that whatever it is, it is more than likely responsible for the bizarre stinging death of his friend, and vows he’ll be back to the island to get to the bottom of it. He rides off, ending the first act, setting us up for the rest of the picture.
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